I love this anecdote. It's amazing how a small incident in school can have astonishing unimagined results.
The ‘Colorblindness’ Trap How a civil rights ideal got hijacked.
In 1930, a young man named Thurgood Marshall, a native son of Baltimore, could not attend the University of Maryland’s law school, located in the city and state where his parents were taxpaying citizens. The 22-year-old should have been a shoo-in for admission.
An academically gifted student, Marshall had become enamored with the Constitution after his high school principal punished him for a prank by making him read the founding document. Marshall memorized key parts of the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights. After enrolling at Lincoln University, a prestigious Black institution, he joined the debate team and graduated with honors.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/m...olorblind.html